Reconsidering Japan’s Denial of Dual Citizenship

An anonymous writer on the internet started her sentence with, “I am a Japanese mom and sold my son to France today.” The writer’s family has been living in France for 20 years, and she made her son acquire French citizenship so that he could take state examination and receive state scholarship.

The writer said “people back home think we are no longer good patriots. But they cannot imagine how much we miss our home. The patriotism grows bigger when we live abroad.” Making a big choice, the mother wished Japan’s allowance of dual citizenship. She was scared that losing Japanese citizenship would have a negative effect on her son’s Japanese identity.

Having dual citizenship means that two countries recognize you as their citizen. Currently, Japan does not allow dual citizenship. Citizens of dual citizenship must choose one or the other before turning age 22. Japan is not an ethnically diverse country and Japanese government fears chaos the interferences of foreign human resources will bring. Allowance of dual citizenship will make many citizens to lose their patriotic heart toward Japan. Additionally, there are people who misuse and abuse dual citizenship to avoid certain laws or to request special admissions.

The reasons to not allow dual citizenship are reasonable. However, on the other side, global human resources and patriots will be lost due to inevitability of making a choice such as the case mentioned above. Japan in a need for further globalization could be helped by the globally raised children. As the Japanese child in France chose French citizenship, he will not come back to Japan and work for Japan; rather he will work for France. In these cases, Japan is not only losing a globalized future workforce, but also a citizen who could show nationalism. The possibility for this family to come back to Japan and live decreased, and there are many other families in the same situation.

Current Japan believes that there are more cons to pros in allowing dual citizenship. But is this true? Isn’t Japan losing other important things? Looking case by case, it is beneficial not only for the individual but for the nation to give some individuals dual citizenship. As the world is becoming smaller and a country can no longer stay as a pure nationalistic country, Shouldn’t Japan consider a way to benefit both the individual and the nation within the control of dual citizenship?

2 thoughts on “Reconsidering Japan’s Denial of Dual Citizenship”

Reblogged this on Anything in Random, by MSP and commented:
To be honest, I think Japan should allow multiple citizenship in general, but they should implement the “permission required” policy (German-speaking countries has this policy).

Well yes, I am speaking out for those foreigners who wish to naturalize as Japanese citizens (those who truly consider Japan as their second home) but are still willing to retain the citizenship they’re born with.

As a non-Japanese myself, I think multiple citizenship has many benefits (access without visa, voting), but watch out for the downsides (e.g., taxes, conscription). Also, being a Japanese citizen is a privilege because they could access to 170+ countries without a visa at all. It means that there are some people who are willing to naturalize as Japanese citizens just to have visa-free access to these countries (EU, USA, AUS).